"Lego" Discussion

[LuNatic]

Dad, where is Grandpa right now?

No-one ever said you couldn't reassemble the house.

[zantrua]

entropy is a bitch.

[SocialSceneRepairman]

...holy shit.

I feel like a little Dutch boy who's just heard a very faint cracking noise...

[aeris92]

yeah thats something to think about, but is this really what i come to xkcd for? who knows...

[Omegaton]

I was expecting a reference to Ship of Theseus, and there wasn't one... Oh well.

[kingofdreams]

I need to get my shit together and drop endlessly heavy shit on my dog that slowly learns to talk, then repeat so as to mold the rarest and most beautiful of mindsets

[Avoidist]

In every possible respect, I wholeheartedly support this comic.

(not really for any personal reasons, my organs are fine, just think it's a really good message on all accounts)

[Comic JK]

This is pretty overtly anti-Christian (the doctrine of the immortal human soul). Can't say I care for it.

If it gets people to become organ donors, though, that counts more.

[Cynical Idealist]

This is pretty overtly anti-Christian (the doctrine of the immortal human soul). Can't say I care for it.

If it gets people to become organ donors, though, that counts more.

Not aligned with Christian beliefs is not the same as anti-Christian.

[Omegaton]

This is pretty overtly anti-Christian (the doctrine of the immortal human soul). Can't say I care for it.

If it gets people to become organ donors, though, that counts more.

Not that I claim to know much about religion, but I thought that the soul was not an exclusively Christian idea.

[SocialSceneRepairman]

I'd say "vegetarian," but that's kind of been coopted...

[recon455]

This is pretty overtly anti-Christian (the doctrine of the immortal human soul). Can't say I care for it.

If it gets people to become organ donors, though, that counts more.

Is the soul contained in the liver? What would Jesus do?*


*DON'T START NOT RELIGIOUS DEBATES IN THIS HERE DARN FORUM!!!!*

[aquilo]

So am I suppose to be sad or inspired now?

This is pretty overtly anti-Christian (the doctrine of the immortal human soul). Can't say I care for it.

Unless your soul is one of the lego bricks, sitting in the box waiting for the final judgement. Although, since your soul-lego can be used to build new things, I guess it more supports reincarnation than the Christian afterlife.

[ShiningMasamune]

This is pretty overtly anti-Christian (the doctrine of the immortal human soul). Can't say I care for it.

If it gets people to become organ donors, though, that counts more.

Subtle troll is subtle.

[Comic JK]

This is pretty overtly anti-Christian (the doctrine of the immortal human soul). Can't say I care for it.
If it gets people to become organ donors, though, that counts more.

Is the soul contained in the liver? What would Jesus do?*
*DON'T START NOT RELIGIOUS DEBATES IN THIS HERE DARN FORUM!!!!*

Sorry--no more on this from me. Though I will maintain that Randall started it.

[hoffmanbike]

i liked this comic a lot. my grandfather survived for 15 years -FIFTEEN YEARS!- on his second heart transplant. i miss him... it's his memory that keeps me donating blood and listed as an organ donor on my license.

[_sandswipe_]

Anti-anti-christian person:
Where did Randall refer to the pattern of a person? He specified that a lego house's pattern is gone, not where a person's pattern goes. I know, different things are implied to different people, but a message against people who think they need to keep their body in one piece even after they're done with it isn't always a message against religion.

[rgoomh]

Randall, get out of my head!

[Nasaniaru]

I really like this comic. It kind of speaks on a very deep level of the nature of the soul after the body is "disassembled" while comparing it to something very unimportant as legos. Also the push for people to become organ donors is also somewhat noble too. This is why I like xkcd. Intellectual stimulation like this.

[seanfalloy]

Lego is probably the best thing ever invented. I dont think i would be an engineer today if it wasnt for lego

['; DROP DATABASE;--]

I'm assuming she changed an x to a check mark? For some reason I don't seem to think it's as clear as it could be, though people seem to be understanding it fine...

An x in a box usually has the same meaning as a checkmark unless noted otherwise. I imagine she's filling it in.

Also, my step-great-grandfather passed away today, so the title text is a bit of a "Randall get out of my head" moment. O.o

And yes, <3 Lego.

[MrD]

That was a little harsh.

The girl is quietly playing with her Legos by herself, when her brother comes along and starts asking her simple questions just to contradict her and make her feel small. In response, she sneaks off and signs him up as an organ donor behind his back.

[Kilroy(ZTC)]

However, when the lego's are assembled they are recognized as "house" and "train" and not just as sporadic collections of blocks. Therefore, when assembled they appear to be more than the sum of their parts. Hence this comic seems at the very least to be compatible with a finite soul that ends at death.

[eviloatmeal]

This one really takes me back to strips like 1 and 11. Simplistic and maybe a little melancholy, but with that touch of "That's life".

Good one Randall!

[Persona]

Lemme get this straight. When the house is disassembled the pieces can be used elsewhere without damaging the house because the house is gone. It's parallel to how when you die your organs can be donated to someone else without damaging yourself because you're dead.

I think most people who are not signed as donors understand this fact full well. The reason they're not signed is probably the same reason you bother to dress corpses up before burial.

But the thing I'm wondering the most about is the alt text... Why ask for Grandpa when the comic just implied that the house is gone after disassembly?

[pretzil]

Well, I would imagine that they probably wouldnt take organs from the elderly, even if they were organ donors, I'd imagine they would rather put organs from younger healthier people wouldnt they? Save having to just replace them in a couple of years. So I would imagine that her grandfather is probably in one piece in the ground (Depending on CoD I suppose), unless he had already taken some young ppl organs for himself recently, then I guess they would probably want them back, I am probably overthinking this ay...

[thret]

I think Randall just summarised the entire introduction to the 20th-anniversary Edition of Godel, Escher, Bach. Well, if he includes a strange-loop reference somewhere.

Surely the idea that we are unique patterns rather than unique building-blocks is not going to shatter any major religions. It is actually probably compatible with the concept of a soul? I don't see how it wouldn't be. Oh, except it is finite as Kilroy points out. Well, maybe.

If you re-create the house later in the same pattern, is it the same house?

[glasnt]

Is the girl at the end checking the box saying she does what to be an organ donor, or is she changing her answer from yes (hence the over extended line which i think is a tick) to no, she doesn't want to be an organ donor?



In related news, my boss just caught me reading 'xksd'. Old people are cute, sometimes :3

hi joee!

[phlip]

Man, I wish organ transplants were as easy as plugging lego bricks together. Would make things so much easier.

*Is an organ donor and regular blood donor, in a country that doesn't even pay you for either.*

That was a little harsh.

The girl is quietly playing with her Legos by herself, when her brother comes along and starts asking her simple questions just to contradict her and make her feel small. In response, she sneaks off and signs him up as an organ donor behind his back.

I think this interpretation is hilarious.

[edit]

Is the girl at the end checking the box saying she does what to be an organ donor, or is she changing her answer from yes (hence the over extended line which i think is a tick) to no, she doesn't want to be an organ donor?

Drawing an X in a box is reasonably common way of selecting it... the choice isn't between an x and a tick, rather any mark and no mark.

If it makes it clearer, imagine there's a second box that says "no, I'm a selfish prick" below the organ donor box, and it's blank.

[Editer]

Randall, get out of my head!

I'm imagining someone who gets a great big kick out of saying "Randall, get out of my head!" finding themselves a transplant recipient of one of Randall's corneas.

And thus never able to say it again.

/nothing against the "out of my head" comments, just enjoying the thought

[GreatS]

Is it just me, or am I reading it incorrectly:

• She finds out that something which is dissambled doesn't exist anymore
• Thus she decides to not become a donor, because she doesn't want to be dissembled (that's a cross, not a tick, right?)

// EDIT START//

Is the girl at the end checking the box saying she does what to be an organ donor, or is she changing her answer from yes (hence the over extended line which i think is a tick) to no, she doesn't want to be an organ donor?

Yup, I guess that's how I interpreted it...
// EDIT END //


Oh and, rather than a anti-christian thing, it would be more of a pro christian thing... right? As it says that the arrangement is independent from the building blocks. And that brings me to the point that I would argue that the arrangement of the lego blocks will actually stay in the mind of the person who created the house... they won't simply disappear, they will inspire him to make new - more complicated stuff - .

[Geogriffith]

Dad, where is Grandpa right now?

"His source code was forked, backups moved off-site, and merged with a compatible project with similar goals. As was mine, as will yours be, someday."

[lissamphibia]

Hmmm... I've been thinking a lot about systems theory and deep ecology lately (currently reading I Am a Strange Loop) -- and I really prefer this sort of viewpoint:

"We are but whirlpools in a river of ever-flowing water. We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves."
--Norbert Wiener, mathematician

It seems more... hopeful, to me, but without introducing any need for religious concepts. Also doesn't differentiate between various ways of influencing the world around you and after you, whether you're spreading genes or memes.

[Lendges]

Feeling existentialist now anyone?

As logical as it may be to sign up as an organ donor, we have to remember that people rarely behave logically. There is a certain dignity to looking sharp all the time. Plus, even with medical technology as precise as it is, there's always that chance that they'd mistakenly pronounce a barely-living organ donor dead on the scene. You never know...

[Kilroy(ZTC)]

Feeling existentialist now anyone?

That's basically the only reason I posted, haha. Although to your other observations, I have to say that all values are pre-rational and hence it doesn't make sense to describe any single value (like looking snazzy) as illogical. Values can only be illogical in the sense that a value system can be internally inconsistent. Which now that I think about it is kind of funny, because it means highly singular people are technically logical.

[SocialSceneRepairman]

*Is an organ donor and regular blood donor, in a country that doesn't even pay you for either.*

Why do people from other countries always seem to think this? I think you can get paid for blood if you look, but most people are willing to give for free; if they find out money's changed hands over an organ, it's straight to the garbage. The only things that they'll pay for are eggs and sperm, and I'm not even totally sure about those.

[sje46]

This is pretty overtly anti-Christian (the doctrine of the immortal human soul). Can't say I care for it.

If it gets people to become organ donors, though, that counts more.

Not so much anti-Christian as it is anti-supernatural nonsense.

Instead of complaining because a comic makes a good point against your religion, you should consider that good point and reconsider your own beliefs. Just a thought.

Feeling existentialist now anyone?

As logical as it may be to sign up as an organ donor, we have to remember that people rarely behave logically. There is a certain dignity to looking sharp all the time. Plus, even with medical technology as precise as it is, there's always that chance that they'd mistakenly pronounce a barely-living organ donor dead on the scene. You never know...

How many people will die a premature death because they are an organ donor? 1 in 200K? How many people are waiting for organs in the hospital? You're just being selfish at that point.

[oligore]

Is it just me, or am I reading it incorrectly:

• She finds out that something which is dissambled doesn't exist anymore
• Thus she decides to not become a donor, because she doesn't want to be dissembled (that's a cross, not a tick, right?)

Agree. She thinks she will be "Just gone" if she is in pieces.
Also: You can't turn cross into a tick, you can only turn a tick into a cross.

Edit: As America is not the world Christianity is not All religions. Anyway the soul cannot be destroyed and exists independently of the body in major religions.

[kdrive113]

This just reminds me of Early in Firefly talking about River's room, when he asks if it is still her room when she isn't in it.

[sithwalrus]

Deep comic, I liked it.
I have been planning on donating my organs for ten years, since I was six, if I can save someones life at no personal cost, then it sounds like a win-win situation.
so far in my life, I have never heard someone argue against organ donations, so why do so few people actually make them? (at least in Canada) if someone does not sign to have their organs donated before death, then their families are asked for permission after death, but it seems like a weird system. few people will be focusing on how they can turn a tragic situation into something beneficial when they have just lost a relative, so it would really make more sense to assume that everyone wants their organs donated, and give people the opportunity to decline. this way, if they have no real preference the likelihood of a donation increases.
btw, i am a christian, but as far as the whole eternal life thing goes it really makes no difference to me. I am going to try and live a decent life on earth, and if I get another try somewhere I will take it. whether there is heaven, hell, or the entire world fades into a formless lifeless void, we should all be living our lives with the same ethics and goals anyway.